Sri Lanka thrashed out India by a huge margin of 100 runs at the final of ninth Asia cup while they won two consecutive Asia cup to gain their fifth one out of nine Asia cup.
Chasing a moderate total of 274 India were as usual in their batting while Shehwag played an awesome innings of 60 runs of just 36 balls. India was just maintaining a great run rate of over seven. Nevertheless, who knew a tornado would destroy so called best batting line up in no time. Shehwag was the first man to fall into the trap of mysterious Ajanta Mendis while Sangakara stumped him. Then Yuvraj, Raina, Rohit Sharma failed to read the spin of Mendis. It was very difficult for Indians to understand the swing whether he was bowling off spin, leg spin or straight. India were managed to reach 173 before being all out at 40th over. Mendis took 6/13 from his eight over.
Mahindra Sing Dhoni praised Mendis in post match and said, "Frankly speaking none of the batsmen picked him (Mendis). I think Virender Sehwag was fantastic but Mendis was outstanding as well. It was just his day and he made life miserable for India. I think most of the batsmen batted well in the series but the conditions were helpful, hopefully when we come back for the Champions Trophy, the tracks are more even."
Man of the match and man of the tournament Ajanta Mendis said about his success, "It is my first big tournament and I enjoyed the experience. I didn’t think too much bowling to these big batsmen, just tried to hit the good areas." As Mendis does not understand much of English, Jayewardene helps by becoming the interpreter.
Sri Lankan skipper did not forget to remind the contribution of Sanath Jayasuriya for his brilliant hundred which became out of focus for the tornado spell of Mendis,
"I thought Sanath made a lot of difference in today’s game and of course the way Mendis bowled. But, this tournament was superb as all of the senior pros chipped in with some contribution. Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Vaasy all came in at some time or the other. We are looking forward to meeting India at home now."
Earlier, India put Sri Lanka after winning the toss and managed to pick up 4 wickets in 66 run but Sanath was different. He played his natural game and made a big partnership of 133 run with Dilshan to reach Lankan on an honorable 273. However, it never looked winning score as two captains predicted 400 runs as a save score on this batting paradise. Sanath scored 125 from just 114 balls and Dilshan scored 56.
The president of Islamic Republic of Pakistan Parvez Musharraf came to the Karachi stadium to watch the final and distributed prizes among the players. He thanked all the organizers, security and players to show their sportsmanship through out the tournament.
Photo: website